Bassin d’Arcachon – Part 1

Having made our way from London to La Rochelle via Paris (here, here & here) we had collected our hire car and driven a couple of hours south to Le Bassin d’Archachon (or Arcachon Bay) which is around 45-minutes from Bordeaux. With a base in the village of Le Teich for just over a week, we were well placed to explore the local towns as well as the wider region.

Our first day in the Arcachon area meant ticking off the area’s largest attraction, both literally and figuratively. At 106.6m above sea level, La Dune du Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe and marks the southern entrance to the Arcachon Bay. Visiting and climbing the dune is free, although there is a charge for using the car park, and there are a number of shops, cafés and restaurants at ‘base camp’.

From April to the start of November, 154 plastic steps are installed into the inland side of the dune to assist some of the 2 million visitors per year, although many still insist on clambering up the sand itself. The steps assist with the main part of the climb, however there is a long slope of sand to conquer before reaching the steps and a bit more dune from the top before you reach the actual summit.

As well as conquering the dune on the first day of our stay in the Arcachon area, we decided to be gluttons for punishment and also visited early on our final day in an attempt to watch the sunrise from the top. Unfortunately the left over weather from an overnight Atlantic storm prevented us seeing the sunrise itself, but watching the night fade over the Atlantic as dawn came to an end was certainly a special moment of the holiday.

Following our first day visit to the Dune, we decided to try and find somewhere for a family meal, slightly complicated by two vegetarians, a pescatarian and a fussitarian being part of our group. We decided to head south the tourist area of Biscarosse Plage and after a hunt around the town found a cheap and cheerful pizzeria a stones throw from the beach.

Biscarosse Plage is one of the popular beach towns in this area of France and in an effort to tap into the large tourist market there was a large Ferris wheel plying its trade on the promenade. There’s also a ‘#Bisca’ sign for photo opportunities, similar to those in Amsterdam and the one we’d seen in Caen last year.

The other major tourist attraction in the Arcachon area is the Zoo du Bassin d’Arcachon, one of France’s largest zoos and home to more than 1,000 animals of 100s of species. The zoo has seen a number of births including chimpanzees, giraffes and a black rhino, the latter being a critically endangered species. My highlight was seeing the tower of giraffes, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place. I’m also delighted at the fact one of the collective nouns for giraffes is a ‘tower’!

We had allowed a full day to explore the zoo, but even that felt like it wasn’t long enough, with many animals passed by in what felt like a rush. Along with the animals there’s also a children’s play area, shop and restaurant along with refreshment stands, so you can really have a full day out.

South of the Arcachon Bay there are a number of lakes formed as the Dune du Pilat blocked access to the sea for one of the local rivers. These sheltered lakes, close to the sea, provided a perfect base for Seaplanes in the 1930s with both a production facility and ‘airport’ being constructed. Whilst the seaplane era has long since been and gone, Biscarosse is proud of its heritage and is home to the Musée de l’Hydraviation.

The museum tells the history of seaplanes from their first flight in 1910 through to today and includes numerous exhibits and a collection of aircraft. The highlight of the museum is a Grumman Albatross that sits in the courtyard of the museum as a ‘gate guard’ and cannot be missed upon arrival. Entry to the museum is €10 for adults and the exhibits can be covered in reasonable detail in a couple of hours. 

Another reasons for visiting the Biscarosse lakes is to check out the beaches, which with calm and shallow waters are extremely popular with families. We visited the Plage de Navarosse at the southern end of the northernmost lake and the shallow depths continued out for 50m or so. This allows children plenty of space to play without the risks associated with deeper water. The lakes are also popular for water sports, although these are kept away from the beaches with swimming areas cordoned off.

That’s it for part one, although there’s plenty more holiday posts yet to come. Bordeaux will be getting its own post, and there’s a ‘Bassin d’Arcachon Part 2’ which will cover Arcachon itself as well as some of the other things we got up to and place we visited in the area.